This invention relates to a waste water collection arrangement for collecting waste water from plumbing fixtures arranged in one or more room units and delivering the waste water to a common collection pipe. In particular, but not exclusively, the room units are cabins in a ship or vessel, although the room units could be provided in another structure, such as a building. The invention is particularly concerned with plumbing fixtures, such as wash basins, showers, baths (including whirlpool baths) and the like having so-called xe2x80x9cgrey waterxe2x80x9d waste water discharges. The invention also relates to a structure (a vessel or building) provided with such a waste water collection arrangement and to a method of providing such a waste water collection arrangement in a structure (a vessel or building).
In vessels it is known to provide plumbing fixtures in cabins with separate sanitary traps adjacent to the outlet of each fixture. A portion of the waste water discharged by each fixture is retained in the associated trap forming a water seal which isolates the fixture and the cabin in which it is located from the main drain conduit or pipe. These known water seals or locks require a definite height of liquid column to work properly. Additionally feeding waste outlets from several fixtures to a common drain conduit requires several water locks, which increases investment costs and takes up valuable space. In vessels there is also the possibility that, through non-use of a particular fixture, water in a trap may evaporate causing the water seal in the trap to be broken.
A particular problem in vessels is the need to have different classes of cabins at different levels of a vessel. In order to accommodate water traps or locks of waste water discharge pipes or channels under the floor of a cabin so that they function properly, it is often necessary to raise the floor level of a sanitary cubicle within the cabin so as to be higher than the main floor level of the cabin. However this is not an ideal solution since an inconvenient step is created between the different floor levels of the cabin. Another solution to the problem is to provide a cabin unit with a raised floor and a working or utility space between the base of the cabin unit and the raised floor for the incorporation of the water traps. However for a given vessel height, fewer floor levels and thus fewer cabins can be accommodated. For example, in a modern passenger vessel, decreasing the number of floor levels by one can result in the total number of cabins being reduced by from 250-300, which of course greatly affects the profitability of the vessel.
It is also known in vessels to position cabin units on different floor levels and to position the water traps or seals for cabin units of a particular floor level completely underneath that floor level. However this solution is impractical since it is difficult, if not impossible, to work underneath a floor level both during construction of the vessel and when doing service work.
An aim of the present invention is to provide a totally novel waste water collection arrangement for room units, and in particular, but not exclusively, for cabins of vessels, with which arrangement the problems of known technology are minimized. A further aim of the invention is to achieve an arrangement in which the space utilization for the collection of waste water from plumbing fixtures, in particular those arranged in cabins of a vessel, is minimized.
According to one aspect of the present invention there is provided a waste water collection arrangement for combining waste water discharges of multiple plumbing fixtures, the arrangement comprising a trap including a lid part having a general plane, the trap defining a chamber for receiving water and the chamber being substantially isolated from surrounding airspace, at least two inlet assemblies which pass through the lid part at least substantially perpendicular to said general plane for delivering waste water to the chamber, and at least one discharge assembly for allowing water to exit from the chamber while retaining water in the chamber to provide a gas-tight seal.
The isolation of the water receiving chamber from the surrounding airspace minimizes evaporation of water from the chamber so that the seal remains in working condition for a relatively long period of time compared with open water traps. The inlet assemblies may be movably mounted to the lid part, which allows the inlet connections to the collection arrangement to be adjusted. Typically the inlet assemblies can be turned into any desired direction to connect to waste water outlets from plumbing fixtures as required. The height of each inlet assembly may also be adjustable.
A waste water collection arrangement according to the present invention enables especially effective use of, and minimization of, space for discharging waste water from room units, in particular cabins of vessels.
Advantageously the collection arrangement comprises a basic part and the lid part which define the water receiving chamber and which are preferably removably fastened to each other in a gas-tight manner. Suitably the inlet assemblies can be reversibly mounted on the lid part with regard to the longitudinal axis of the inlet means.
Advantageously the discharge assembly opens to the chamber (water lock space) a predetermined distance from the bottom of the basic part. The discharge assembly can be led through a side wall of the basic part or in some cases through the bottom of the basic part. Additionally the inlet assembly preferably extends nearer to the bottom of the basic part than an input opening of the discharge assembly.
According to another aspect of the present invention there is provided an accommodation unit having several floor levels and a plurality of room units at each floor level, each room unit having one or more plumbing fixtures with respective waste water outlets, the accommodation unit including a drain conduit leading from one floor level to another, and at least one waste water collection device associated with each floor level, each waste water collection device defining a chamber and including a lid part, at least two inlet assemblies for delivering waste water from said waste water outlets to the chamber, each inlet assembly being at least partly above the floor level to allow waste water to be supplied to the waste water collection device above the floor level, and each inlet assembly being fitted to the lid part and being movably mounted to the lid part to enable its connection direction and position to be selectable, and an outlet assembly below the floor level for enabling waste water to pass from the waste water collection device to the drain conduit below the floor level while retaining water in the chamber to provide a gas-tight seal.
The waste water collection device is advantageously arranged in the floor level of the accommodation unit outside the base area of the room unit and the waste water outlets from the plumbing fixtures are connected to inlet assemblies of the collection device with separate assembly channels. Advantageously waste water connections from two adjacent room units are connected to a common collection device arranged in a common service space between the room units. This provides a comprehensive solution which is advantageous for space utilization, construction and maintenance.
Preferably the accommodation unit is formed in a vessel with the room units being cabins of the vessel.
According to a further aspect of the present invention there is provided a method of constructing an accommodation unit having several floor levels and a plurality of room units arranged at each floor level, each room unit having one or more plumbing fixtures with respective waste water outlets connected to a waste water outlet means, said method comprising providing at least one waste water collection device for each floor level, each waste water collection device comprising a basic part and a lid part associated therewith, installing the basic part of each collection device on the floor level for which the collection device is provided, fitting the lid parts to their associated basic parts whereby each basic part and the associated lid part define a water-receiving chamber providing a water seal, and connecting the waste water outlet means of at least two room units to each collection device.
Advantageously basic parts of different collection devices are provided on each floor level and at the same level for each floor level. Thus the basic parts stay essentially, most preferably totally, at the same level as the floor level. The predetermined positions of the basic parts and the predetermined positions of room units are advantageously determined so that each basic part is at substantially the same distance from the two room units associated therewith.
Preferably the accommodation unit is part of a vessel with the room units being cabins.
Several advantages are achieved by means of the present invention. Firstly, in the case of application to a vessel, for a given number of floor levels the overall height of the vessel is reduced which advantageously affects the location of the vessel""s center of gravity. Additionally sanitary cubicles and other spaces of cabins are at the same level which eases movement. The use of a large number of conventional water locks is also avoided by using common collector conduits with water seals or locks.